I can’t believe the day is here. Today. My time in Israel is dwindling, the countdown is at 18 days and I can’t wait to go home. You probably just did a double take. Home? She wants to go home?

“To be a free nation in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem.”

There is a common Israeli expression that has been repeated to me several times by family members and people I’ve met over this past year: “ta’aseh chayim.” The literal translation of this phrase is “do life,” but I think it has a much deeper and profound meaning.

I believe the conversation went something like this:

"What do you want to do?"
"I'm not sure."
"Is there anything to do?"
"I'm not sure."
"Do you want to make a fire?"
"Um, sure."
"Do you want to make a fire and cook some food on it?"
"Why not?"

It finally happened. I had heard the stories from American and Israeli friends in the past--how people on Year Course 2000-2001 were half of a mile from the Dolphinarium when a suicide bomber killed himself and over 20 young Israelis, and how people on Year Course this year were very close to a shooting in Jerusalem several weeks ago.

Hi! My name is Mia Goldwasser and according to my cell phone countdown, I will be departing for Israel as a member of Young Judaea's 2005-2006 Year Course in 19 days, 4 hours, and 44 minutes. I can't believe it!

The last time I wrote an article, I was sitting at my dining room table in Metairie, LA tapping away at my new laptop, eagerly and nervously anticipating the start of my year in Israel. Now, a little less than a month later, I find myself in my dorm room at Beit Riklis on Mount Scopus, a room occupied by generations of Year Coursers for the very last time (the program plans to relocate buildings at the end of my trimester in the city).

I am about to close my third month here on Year Course, and leave Beit Riklis in Jerusalem for an apartment in Bat Yam. I have three more school days, one more Zionism siyur, three finals, two papers to write, one song in Hebrew to translate, and one JVibe article to write until the weekend rolls around, when I'll be packing up my room for Sunday's big move in day. The transition should be an interesting one.

This past weekend, I found myself in a bomb shelter of a secular West Bank settlement, talking with teens our age about Jewish identity in Israel and in the Diaspora. The entire situation kind of worked out in my favor, because for the last month I've been trying to put together this article in my head, something about what it means to be Jewish in Israel; what it is that qualifies you as a Jew; why is it that being Jewish and Israeli are seen as two different things; and how secular Israeli society is still very Jewish to me.

With less than three months to go on Year Course, I am now in the third and final part of the program–Israel Experience. My five other articles in the last 6 months in Israel have left out much of even the most basic aspects of my life here, so let me attempt to fill in the gaps.